House of Hell (book)
|references=400 |authors=Steve Jackson |illustrator=Tim Sell |coverillustrator=Ian Miller |year=November 22 1984 |number=10 |ISBN=ISBN 0-14-031831-3 |prevbookp=Caverns of the Snow Witch |nextbookp=Talisman of Death |wcoverillustrator=Nicholas Halliday |wyear=December 2 2002 |wnumber=7 |wISBN=ISBN 1-84046-417-8 |prevbookw=Crypt of the Sorcerer |nextbookw=Forest of Doom |w2coverillustrator=Nicholas Halliday |w2year=June ?? 2010 |w2number=9 |w2ISBN=N/A |prevbookw2=Bloodbones |nextbookw2=Eye of the Dragon |pufimage= |wizimage= |wizimage2= }} :For other uses of '''House of Hell', see'' House of Hell (disambiguation) House of Hell is a single-player role-playing gamebook written by Steve Jackson, illustrated by Tim Sell and originally published in 1984 by Puffin Books. It was later republished by Wizard Books in 2002 and 2010. It forms part of Steve Jackson and Ian Livingstone's Fighting Fantasy series. It is the 10th in the series in the original Puffin series (ISBN 0-14-031831-3) and 7th in the modern Wizard "Series 1" (ISBN 1-84046-417-8) and 9th in "Series 2" (ISBN ????). Creation A short version of the adventure was first published in Issue 3 of Warlock, and titled The House of Hell. It was made up of 185 references and the adventure was altered for the shorter versionThe "Fighting Fantasy News" section makes it clear that the adventure (and Caverns of the Snow Witch which preceded it) was always planned as a gamebook and simply shortened and modified for use in the magazine: They were originally intended to be the next two gamebooks, but we decided to give readers a taste of what was to come by publishing shortened versions in the magazine. The full adventures, which are very different from the Warlock versions – and twice as long – have been completed. ( - 4) with quite a few of the gamebook references modified.Speaking of the Warlock version: The rooms have been jumbled, there are some cunning secret passages to find and the important clues are in totally different places. ( - 4) Although his artwork now appears on the cover for The Citadel of Chaos, House of Hell was Ian Miller's first work for the Fighting Fantasy series with Steve Jackson signing him up through approaching Millar's agent at the time (Young Artists).Interview with [[Ian Miller] at the Internet Archive record of Advancedfightingfantasy.com] Background House of Hell is a horror themed book, and the only Fighting Fantasy book set on modern day .The only other modern day adventure is the short adventure from Warlock Issue 13 The Temple of the Pharaoh. The player's car breaks down during a rain storm, forcing the player to seek shelter in a nearby mansion. Though this is the only Fighting Fantasy book to employ this type of setting, books such as Beneath Nightmare Castle use the horror theme in the more common fantasy setting of Titan. The player's quest to escape the mansion is hampered by the presence of -worshippers and various demons, though not all are entirely hostile. Much of the gameplay involves searching a series of rooms, most of which bears an obscure religious or satanic titles, including the Shaitan Room and the Mammon Room. If the reader is to be successful, they must survive an encounter with the house's Master. How to Survive the House of Hell / Hints on Play The book in general follows the original rules set down in The Warlock of Firetop Mountain. (see Game System) Unique Rules *''House of Hell'' uses a fear score in addition to the usual scores. Every time the player encounters some particularly disturbing event, they must add between 1 and 3 fear points to the total fear score. Once the character reaches the maximum score, determined at the beginning of the game, they will quite literally die of fright. *As the book is set on modern day Earth, the reader is unarmed at the start of the book and suffers a skill penalty of 3 points until they find a weapon. Equipment List The player begins with no equipment or Provisions. Cover and Illustrations '''Covers The original cover of the book was designed and illustrated by Ian Miller. When the book was republished by Wizard a new cover was designed and illustrated by Nicholas Halliday. Their 2010 edition makes use of a section of the previous edition's cover art. Image taken from [http://fightingfantasycollector.co.uk/index.htm ''Fighting Fantasy Collector]]] #Price of 1st~2nd Impressions; £1.95 for 7th Impression #Price of 10th Impression (Warlock magazine title spelt incorrectly) #Price of 12th Impression #Price of 14th Impression Illustrations The interior illustrations were by Tim Sell. There were 30 full page illustrations and 6 minor repeated illustrations scattered throughout the text. The paragraphs with a full page illustration were: 1, 14, 27, 41, 56, 71, 85, 98, 112, 126, 139, 154, 168, 181, 195, 209, 222, 236, 250, 264, 277, 291, 305, 318, 332, 345, 358, 373, 387 and 400. The original edition of the book (and the Warlock version as well as that too was illustrated by Tim Sell) - 44 (reference 142) contains an illustration that was removed from subsequent printings. The illustration in question accompanied paragraph 264 and depicted a naked woman (with "artfully" arranged coverage) on an altar with blood on it. The result of the removal of the illustration was that paragraphs 255 through to 263 had to be moved about and spaced by additional minor pictures. The illustration was reinstated for the Wizard re-publication. Intertextual References Other Media Main Characters YOU: Hero of House of Hell *Franklins - Butler *Kelnor - Black Priest of the Night/The Earl of Drummer *Orville - Torturer's Assistant *Shekou - Hunchback Locations *Abaddon Room *Apollyon Room *Asmodeus Room *Azazel Room *Balthus Room *Belial Room *Diabolus Room *Eblis Room *Erasmus Room *Mammon Room *Mephisto Room *Mingleford *Shaitan Room *The House of Drummer Encounters *Bats *Fire Sprites *Franklins *Ghoul *Great Danes *Hell Demon *Humans - Devil-Worshipper/Leader/Man in White/Men/The Master's Servant/White-Haired Man *Hunchback *Invisible Enemy *Skeletons *The Earl of Drummer *Zombies Further Notes *The US version of the book, published by Dell/Laurel-Leaf, was titled House of Hades as the word "Hell" can be considered a profanity there. *''House of Hell'' is Ian Miller's favourite cover for the range. Errors Dedication To Helen, Martin and Pam See Also *''Fighting Fantasy'' Reviews *Reviewed in White Dwarf #66 (June 1985). *[http://user.tninet.se/~wcw454p/docs/ff10.txt House of Hell at FF Reviews Archive] External Links *Character Sheet *[http://www.gamebooks.org/show_series.php?id=11 Fighting Fantasy at Gamebooks.org] *[http://www.gamebooks.org/show_series.php?name=Fighting+Fantasy+Reissues Fighting Fantasy (Wizard Series) at Gamebooks.org] *[http://www.gamebooks.org/show_item.php?id=47 House of Hell at Gamebooks.org] *[http://web.archive.org/web/20051127132124/www.fightingfantasy.com/ffb10.htm House of Hell at the Internet Archive record of the old Fightingfantasy.com] *[http://www.fightingfantasygamebooks.com/ff7.htm House of Hell at the official Fightingfantasygamebooks.com] *[http://www.iconbooks.co.uk/wizard/wbook.cfm?isbn=1-84046-417-8 House of Hell at Wizard Books] References Category:1984 books Category:FF10 Entries Category:Fighting Fantasy Original Series Category:Fighting Fantasy Wizard Series Category:Fighting Fantasy Wizard Series 2